1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a step apparatus which may be deployed to allow ready access to a portion of a motor vehicle, such as a pickup box.
2. Disclosure Information
Vehicles such as pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles frequently utilize large tires and wheels and high ground clearance, so as to enable such vehicles to negotiate more rugged terrain and difficult road surfaces such as those piled with snow and loose soil. Although high ground clearance has the benefit of promoting vehicle mobility, a drawback is inherent with such construction, insofar as high ground clearance renders access to vehicle load carrying structures such as a pickup box, utility body, or roof rack, a difficult proposition. Various designers have attempted to provide foldaway steps which would allow vehicle operators to gain access to a pickup box or other vehicle body. Such foldaway steps have met with mixed success, and one reason for this shortfall is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,158, which discloses a step having a mechanism which actually lowers the height of the step when the step is moved from its stowed position to its deployed position. This lowering of height is undesirable because it partially defeats the purpose for the step by placing the user at less of an advantage than would be the case were the step to be moved upwardly as it is moved to its deployed position.
It would be desirable, therefore, to have a step which not only tucks up out of the way when in a stowed position, but moves upwardly into the deployed position.